Apr 01

Game 7, 2024

Giants at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: MLBN (out-of-market only), NBCS BA, SPNLA

RHP Keeton Winn (0-0, 0.00 ERA) makes his first start of the year for the Giants; LHP James Paxton (0-0, 0.00 ERA) does the same for the Dodgers. Winn is a 26-year-old who made his debut last year and has a career record of 1-3 and a 4.68 ERA in nine games. Paxton is a 35-year-old crafty lefty with a lifetime record of 64-38 and a 3.69 ERA in 156 games, all starts.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1937 The Reds sell Babe Herman to the Tigers. The 34 year-old outfielder, batting .300 for his new team, will appear in only 17 contests with Detroit before effectively retiring from the game, although he will return to play briefly for the war-time Dodgers in 1945.
  • 1963 Former Brooklyn Dodger Duke Snider returns to New York when the Mets purchase him from LA for $40,000. The 36 year-old outfielder, who will represent New York in the All-Star Game, will be told at the end of the season by Buzzie Bavasi, his former GM, that the Yankees had asked for him to back up Mickey Mantle before he was dealt to the team the across the river.
  • 2008 On Opening Day in Los Angeles, Juan Pierre’s 434 consecutive game streak, the longest current one in the major leagues, comes to an end when the Dodger outfielder does not play in the 3-2 victory over the Giants. New skipper Joe Torre plays Andre Ethier in left field in place of the highly paid but light-hitting fly chaser.
  • 2013 Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers’ Opening Day pitcher, hits a leadoff home run off San Francisco’s George Kontos in the bottom of the eighth inning to break up a scoreless tie in the team’s eventual 4-0 victory. LA’s 25-year-old southpaw retires the side in the next frame, completing a 4-0 complete-game shutout against the Giants at Chavez Ravine.

Lineups when available.

Jun 15

Game 69, 2023

White Sox at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: MLBN (out-of-market only), NBCSCH, SPNLA

RHP Dylan Cease (3-3, 4.38 ERA) pitches for the visiting Pale Hose and RHP Michael Grove (0-2, 8.28 ERA) gets the ball for the Dodgers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1938 In the first night game played in New York City, Johnny Vander Meer pitches his second consecutive no-hitter, beating the Dodgers at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field, 6-0. Four days ago, the Reds’ southpaw held the Braves hitless in a 3-0 victory at Crosley Field.
  • 1951 The Cubs trade Andy Pafko along with Johnny Schmitz, Wayne Terwilliger, and Rube Walker to the Dodgers for Bruce Edwards, Joe Hatten, Eddie Miksis, and Gene Hermanski. The deal, which prevents the coveted ‘Handy Andy’ from going to the rival Giants, is the first of many to be made by Buzzie Bavasi, Brooklyn’s new general manager.
  • 1996 In the first inning of their 6-2 victory over the Braves, the Dodgers turn their first triple play in forty-seven years. After making a running, back-to-the-plate grab of Chipper Jones’s popup to short left with runners on first and second, Juan Castro throws to second baseman Delino Deshields to double up Marquis Grissom, then the ball is relayed to first baseman Eric Karros to get Mark Lemke, who was also running on the pitch.

Lineups when available.

Apr 01

Game Three, 2023

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 6:10 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sport Arizona, SPNLA

A few years ago this would have been an Opening Day marquee matchup. LHP Madison Bumgarner (2022: 7-15, 4.85 ERA) goes for the D-Backs and LHP Clayton Kershaw (2022: 12-3, 2.28 ERA) goes for the Dodgers. Bumgarner’s 2022 was horrid but his last start of the season might have been his best: he gave up just one hit and one walk while striking out five Dodgers in six innings on Sept. 21. The 2022 edition of Kershaw was his usual impeccable self when healthy; he missed a month between May and June and another 3 weeks in August.

From yesterday’s game:

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1937 The Reds sell Babe Herman to the Tigers. The 34 year-old outfielder, batting .300 for his new team, will appear in only 17 contests with Detroit before effectively retiring from the game, although he will return to play briefly for the war-time Dodgers in 1945.
  • 1963 Former Brooklyn Dodger Duke Snider returns to New York when the Mets purchase him from LA for $40,000. The 36 year-old outfielder, who will represent New York in the All-Star Game, will be told at the end of the season by Buzzi Bavasi, his former GM, that the Yankees had asked for him to back up Mickey Mantle before he was dealt to the team the across the river.
  • 2008 On Opening Day in Los Angeles, Juan Pierre’s 434 consecutive game streak, the longest current one in the major leagues, comes to an end when the Dodger outfielder does not play in the 3-2 victory over the Giants. New skipper Joe Torre plays Andre Ethier in left field in place of the highly paid but light-hitting fly chaser.
  • 2013 Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers’ Opening Day pitcher, hits a leadoff home run off San Francisco’s George Kontos in the bottom of the eighth inning to break up a scoreless tie in the team’s eventual 4-0 victory. LA’s 25-year-old southpaw retires the side in the next frame, completing a 4-0 complete-game shutout against the Giants at Chavez Ravine.

Lineups when available.

Trayce Thompson, CT3 and Barnesy get their first starts of the year.

Jun 15

Game 62, 2022

Angels at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: BS West, SPNLA

LHP Reid Detmers (2-2, 3.83 ERA) is on the bump for the Angels while LHP Tyler Anderson (7-0, 3.07 ERA) takes the mound for the Dodgers. Detmers was the 10th pick in the first round of the 2020 draft; he made his major league debut in August of 2021. He’s made ten appearances this season, all starts. Anderson has, with Gonsolin, been a very pleasant surprise for the Dodgers, who’ve needed all the help they could get in the rotation with Kershaw’s and Heaney’s absences, and the Tony and Tyler show has given it to them.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1938 In the first night game played in New York City, Johnny Vander Meer pitches his second consecutive no-hitter, beating the Dodgers at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field, 6-0. Four days ago, the Reds’ southpaw held the Braves hitless in a 3-0 victory at Crosley Field.
  • 1951 The Cubs trade Andy Pafko along with Johnny Schmitz, Wayne Terwilliger, and Rube Walker to the Dodgers for Bruce Edwards, Joe Hatten, Eddie Miksis, and Gene Hermanski. The deal, which prevents the coveted ‘Handy Andy’ from going to the rival Giants, is the first of many to be made by Buzzy Bavasi, Brooklyn’s new general manager.
  • 1996 In the first inning of their 6-2 victory over the Braves, the Dodgers turn their first triple play in forty-seven years. After making a running, back-to-the-plate grab of Chipper Jones’s popup to short left with runners on first and second, Juan Castro throws to second baseman Delino Deshields to double up Marquis Grissom, then the ball is relayed to first baseman Eric Karros to get Mark Lemke, who was also running on the pitch.

Lineups when available.

Jun 15

Game 67, 2021

Phillies at Dodgers, 4:10 PM PDT, TV: MLBN (out-of-market only), NBCSP, SPNLA

The visiting Phillies send RHP Zach Eflin (2-5, 3.89 ERA) to the hill to face the Dodgers’ LHP Julio Urias (9-2, 3.56 ERA). Eflin has gone 0-4 in his last five starts, while Urias is tied for the league lead in wins.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1938 In the first night game played in New York City, Johnny Vander Meer pitches his second consecutive no-hitter, beating the Dodgers at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field, 6-0. Four days ago, the Reds’ southpaw held the Braves hitless in a 3-0 victory at Crosley Field.
  • 1951 The Cubs trade Andy Pafko along with Johnny Schmitz, Wayne Terwilliger, and Rube Walker to the Dodgers for Bruce Edwards, Joe Hatten, Eddie Miksis, and Gene Hermanski. The deal, which prevents the coveted ‘Handy Andy’ from going to the rival Giants, is the first of many to be made by Buzzy Bavasi, Brooklyn’s new general manager.
  • 1996 In the first inning of their 6-2 victory over the Braves, the Dodgers turn their first triple play in forty-seven years. After making a running, back-to-the-plate grab of Chipper Jones’s popup to short left with runners on first and second, Juan Castro throws to second baseman Delino Deshields to double up Marquis Grissom, then the ball is relayed to first baseman Eric Karros to get Mark Lemke, who was also running on the pitch.

Lineup:

Apr 04

Game Four, 2021

Dodgers at Rockies, 1:10 PM PDT, TV: ATTSportsNetRM, SPNLA

LHP Julio Urias (0-0, 0.00 ERA), last seen closing out Game Six of the World Series, makes his first start of the season. He’ll face LHP Austin Gomber (0-0, 0.00 ERA) who’s doing the same. Urias is just 24 years old, but it seems like he’s been a big part of the Dodgers’ success the last couple of years. Gomber came over to the Rockies from the Cardinals in the Nolan Arenado trade this off-season.

Today in Dodgers history:

  • 1968 Due to today’s assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, most of the major league teams will decide to postpone their Opening Day games until the reverend’s funeral takes place in five days. Surprisingly, the Dodgers, at first, are the notable exception, even though the Phillies, their opponents on April 9th, say they will forfeit rather than play on the national day of mourning. [See below]
  • 2016 The Dodgers hand the Padres the worst Opening Day shutout loss since at least 1913, and most likely in the history of the game, blanking the Friars at PetCo Park, 15-0. The contest marked the managerial debut of both skippers with LA’s Dave Roberts and San Diego’s Padres Andy Green both piloting their first major league game.

So what did MLB do to acknowledge Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder? Initially, not much. It took the Pirates, the most thoroughly integrated team in all of baseball, whose numbers included Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, Maury Wills, Donn Clendenon and Matty Alou, to make a stand and refuse to play on Monday, April 8, Opening Day. The Dodgers’ Walter O’Malley and Buzzie Bavasi were positively tone-deaf.

The last holdouts, the Dodgers, were due to host the Phillies in Los Angeles. Team owner Walter O’Malley, who was the club’s vice president in 1947 when the team signed Jackie Robinson, wanted to go ahead with the game. According to an Associated Press story, O’Malley figured King’s funeral would be over by the time his team took the field on the West Coast.

Dodgers general manager Buzzie Bavasi explained the club’s position to the press: “We are going to follow the schedule,” he said. “We would not play the game if the interment was not completely over. I’m not sure Mr. Giles [Warren Giles, president of the National League] has any jurisdiction in a case like this.”

I rarely agreed with anything Dick Young wrote in those days, but I can concur with this:

Dick Young was equally incredulous at the Dodgers’ strategy. “Teams in the East and Midwest, which would be playing during the funeral hours, should postpone their games,” he wrote, summarizing O’Malley’s and Eckert’s plan. “[But] teams in California, which would be opening an hour after the funeral had concluded, would play. It was as though someone was standing by the side of the bier with a stopwatch and a starter’s gun.”

The Phillies’ GM John Quinn announced they’d forfeit rather than play. O’Malley conferred with Quinn and Giles and finally agreed to postpone the game.

Lineup when available.

Bellinger and Seager sit this one out, replaced by CT3 and McKinstry.

Apr 01

Opening Day, 2021

Dodgers at Rockies, 1:10 PM PDT, TV: ATTSportsnetRM, SPNLA, ESPN

LHP Clayton Kershaw will make his ninth Opening Day start, most in Dodger history. He’ll face RHP Germán Márquez. Each pitcher faced the other team once last season: Kershaw gave up one run over seven innings at Coors Field, and Márquez went seven, gave up two runs and five hits at Dodger Stadium.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1937 The Reds sell Babe Herman to the Tigers. The 34 year-old outfielder, batting .300 for his new team, will appear in only 17 contests with Detroit before effectively retiring from the game, although he will return to play briefly for the war-time Dodgers in 1945.
  • 1963 Former Brooklyn Dodger Duke Snider returns to New York when the Mets purchase him from LA for $40,000. The 36 year-old outfielder, who will represent New York in the All-Star game, will be told at the end of the season by Buzzie Bavasi, his former GM, that the Yankees had asked for him to back up Mickey Mantle before he was dealt to the team across the river.
  • 2008 On Opening Day in Los Angeles, Juan Pierre’s 434 consecutive game streak, the longest current one in the major leagues, comes to an end when the Dodger outfielder does not play in the 3-2 victory over the Giants. New skipper Joe Torre plays Andre Ethier in left field in place of the highly paid but light-hitting fly chaser.

Can you imagine Duke Snider in pinstripes?

Lineup when available.

Jun 15

Game 71, 2019

Cubs at Dodgers, 6:10 PM PDT, TV: ABC7 (Chicago), KTLA (Los Angeles), MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

Cubs RHP Yu Darvish (2-3, 4.98 ERA) makes his first appearance at Dodger Stadium since his horrific 2017 World Series Game Seven appearance in which he gave up five runs in 1 2/3 innings and put the Dodgers in a hole they couldn’t climb out of. Interestingly, he credits the Dodgers with making him appreciate baseball again.

“The Rangers were an old-school organization,” Darvish said. “They had a lot of rules. I really didn’t like that. But I came to the Dodgers and was told I could do what I wanted. I felt a lot more relaxed. It made me love baseball more. I felt a greater appreciation for the concept of a team.”

Darvish will face the Dodgers’ RHP Walker Buehler (7-1, 3.35 ERA), who went 5 2/3 innings against the Cubs in April and then gave up a three-run home run to Javier Baez. His last start was a seven-inning scoreless gem against the Giants. His ERA for June is 0.60.

Workout T-shirts:

This is fascinating. WBBsAs found it and posted it in the comments to the last post. It’s some guy (whose language is salty; be forewarned) explaining Jansen’s balk in the ninth inning last night.


Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1938 In the first night game played in New York City, Johnny Vander Meer pitches his second consecutive no-hitter, beating the Dodgers at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field, 6-0. Four days ago, the Reds’ southpaw held the Braves hitless in a 3-0 victory at Crosley Field.
  • 1951 The Cubs trade Andy Pafko along with Johnny Schmitz, Wayne Terwilliger, and Rube Walker to the Dodgers for Bruce Edwards, Joe Hatten, Eddie Miksis, and Gene Hermanski. The deal, which prevents the coveted ‘Handy Andy’ from going to the rival Giants, is the first of many to be made by Buzzy Bavasi, Brooklyn’s new general manager.
  • 1996 In the first inning of their 6-2 victory over the Braves, the Dodgers turn their first triple play in forty-seven years. After making a running, back-to-the-plate grab of Chipper Jones’s popup to short left with runners on first and second, Juan Castro throws to second baseman Delino Deshields to double up Marquis Grissom, then the ball is relayed to first baseman Eric Karros to get Mark Lemke, who was also running on the pitch.

Lineup:


Apr 01

Game 5, 2019

Giants vs. Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: ESPN (out-of-market only), NBCS BA, SPNLA

The Giants send off-season acquisition LHP Drew Pomeranz to the mound at Dodger Stadium for his season debut. He’ll face the Dodgers’ 22-year-old lefty Julio Urías, who’ll be making his first start in nearly two years. Pomeranz made 26 appearances for the Red Sox last season, starting 11. He posted a 6.08 ERA over the 74 innings he accumulated in those games. He had a WHIP of 1.77, walking 44 and striking out 66. Urías was scheduled to start the year in Oklahoma City, but then Kershaw and Hill got hurt. The youngster had a superb spring in which he put up a 1.72 ERA and 0.51 WHIP with 15 strikeouts over 15.2 innings pitched. The Dodgers still want to limit his innings this season, so he may only go five innings tonight, if that.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1937 The Reds sell Babe Herman to the Tigers. The 34 year-old outfielder, batting .300 for his new team, will appear in only 17 contests with Detroit before effectively retiring from the game, although he will return to play briefly for the war-time Dodgers in 1945.
  • 1963 Former Brooklyn Dodger Duke Snider returns to New York when the Mets purchase him from LA for $40,000. The 36 year-old outfielder, who will represent New York in the All-Star Game, will be told at the end of the season by Buzzi Bavasi, his former GM, that the Yankees had asked for him to back up Mickey Mantle before he was dealt to the team the across the river.
  • 2008 On Opening Day in Los Angeles, Juan Pierre’s 434 consecutive game streak, the longest current one in the major leagues, comes to an end when the Dodger outfielder does not play in the 3-2 victory over the Giants. New skipper Joe Torre plays Andre Ethier in left field in place of the highly paid but light-hitting fly chaser.

Lineup:


Jun 15

Game 68, 2018

Giants at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: SPNLA, NBC Bay Area

The two old rivals have already played 10 games against one another this season; the Giants hold a 6-4 edge. Tonight’s pitching matchup features the Giants’ LHP Derek Holland (4-6, 4.54 ERA) versus the Dodgers’ RHP Ross Stripling (5-1, 1.65 ERA). Holland’s last two starts have been excellent: he’s 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA in those games, and in his last outing he pitched five scoreless innings and gave up just three hits to the Nationals. Stripling may not be a revelation to the Dodgers, but he’s been the most consistent of their starters over the last two months as well as the healthiest.

R.I.P. Ed Roebuck, who pitched for both the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers. He started the awful ninth inning of the third game of the 1962 NL playoff series.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1938 In the first night game played in New York City, Johnny Vander Meer pitches his second consecutive no-hitter, beating the Dodgers at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field, 6-0. Four days ago, the Reds’ southpaw held the Braves hitless in a 3-0 victory at Crosley Field.
  • 1951 The Cubs trade Andy Pafko along with Johnny Schmitz, Wayne Terwilliger, and Rube Walker to the Dodgers for Bruce Edwards, Joe Hatten, Eddie Miksis, and Gene Hermanski. The deal, which prevents the coveted ‘Handy Andy’ from going to the rival Giants, is the first of many to be made by Buzzy Bavasi, Brooklyn’s new general manager.
  • 1996 In the first inning of their 6-2 victory over the Braves, the Dodgers turn their first triple play in forty-seven years. After making a running, back-to-the-plate grab of Chipper Jones’s popup to short left with runners on first and second, Juan Castro throws to second baseman Delino Deshields to double up Marquis Grissom, then the ball is relayed to first baseman Eric Karros to get Mark Lemke, who was also running on the pitch.

Lineup when available.